Gayle, You Have Lung Cancer

by Gayle Zinda

Gayle Zinda and her son, Adam

You have cancer. What frightening
words those are. As a nurse, hearing
a doctor notify a person and his or her
family of this disease taking place in
their lives broke my heart. I could see
the looks of confusion and sense the
questions zooming in their heads, questions
they just couldn’t quite ask. They
wanted more information, yet at the
same time, they didn’t. I could feel
the pain as if the doctor was speaking
to me.

Yet at the end of the day, I could
leave and the pain was gone. But for
the person with cancer, it was just beginning.
They needed people to enter
their lives and gently pick them up
and lead them back to familiar, softer
ground. Those people came in the
form of healthcare providers, drivers
to and from appointments, cooks, and
the mail carriers who would bring letters
and cards when they least expected
it. Then, there were those who like
myself, a nurse and business owner,
provided wigs, breast prostheses, and
yes, at times a little lipstick. We were
there to help put the physical pieces
together again.

At the age of 50, I
needed new priorities in
my life.

I provided this service for 10 years
and served over 10,000 people. Five
years later, I heard those words myself:
“Gayle, you have lung cancer.” I had
just had a hysterectomy and a right hip
replacement. Two weeks later, I had
a left lower lobectomy.

After about seven months to recoup
from the surgeries (and some lipstick),
I became painfully aware of the facts
about lung cancer. My son, Adam, and
I took off to travel the country in a 31
foot RV to create awareness and push
for early detection. To date, we’ve
traveled over 30,000 miles.

I thank God for this disease because
it has shown me that at the age
of 50 I needed new priorities in my life.
You’d think after all those surgeries
I’d learn something. I did. Take better
care of myself, the whole self: body,
mind, and spirit. I decided that if I
didn’t know the facts about lung cancer,
chances were many others didn’t
either. Now, I spread the knowledge.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Gayle Zinda is an author
and speaker living in Wisconsin. To order
her book, Pink Lemonade, or to learn
about her travels in the pink RV, visit
www.lemonmotivators.com.

This article was published in Coping® with Cancer magazine,
November/December
2007.